Alexander Rossi had the newest addition to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s security force doing donuts on the “Yard of Bricks” as IMS President Doug Boles spoke during its introduction.

The 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion smiled like a kid whose parents just handed him a new remote control race car on Christmas, seemingly unaware of what Boles or others were saying around him. His joy coupled with the instruction of what the second mobile security robot to join IMS’ arsenal can do, captured the dual nature of its introduction.

A spectacular guard.

“It’s a wonderful thing and it will add even more excitement and allure to what already is the best sporting event in the world,” Rossi said.

Earlier he’d been joking about fans possibly attempting to hop on ROSS-E — yes, it’s named it after Rossi — which he’d later jokingly refer to as his new pet.

“We’re all about safety and security out here,” IMS senior director of safety and security Michael Bates had said before Rossi spoke. “We do have the largest crowd for a one-day sporting event in the world, obviously, at the end of this month.”

ROSS-E, which joins Indy 5P0, is a Sharp INTELLOS Automated Unmanned Ground Vehicle. It has a camera system, infrared capability so it can be effective at night, two-way communication so someone in the security office can converse with anyone it might need to address around IMS and sensors so it can stop and not run into anything.

Whether it’s piloted by Rossi, itself or anyone else it can reach up to three or four miles per hour. A brisk walk. Multi-purpose tires allow it to go on any surface it might need to at IMS.

“A second one assists us in a lot as far as our safety and security capabilities,” Bates said.

It also falls in line with an idea Boles brought up, that IMS is a place to demonstrate new technology. Rossi concurred, saying the security robot fits a vision with IMS and IndyCar as a whole, not to mention the continued importance being placed on security at large sporting venues.

Rossi enjoyed being its namesake, too. Especially with what Takuma Sato’s victory in 2017 meant.

“It’s very good because Takuma’s face is over the tunnel now, so he took that away from me,” Rossi said. “So, I’m glad now that I have something to kind of stake my claim.”

He just hopes it doesn’t catch him doing anything he shouldn’t at night.

That night capability is part of what Boles and Bates might be most proud of. They want to ensure the track stays safe even when no one’s there, as Boles said Indy 5P0 has been doing already. Both can have routes programmed in for patrols.

“The idea is to set up all the routes, the GPS routes, and basically you program that in and boom, you go,” Bates said. “The camera system feeds into the IMS camera system.”

Bates thinks two mobile security robots is a good number at this point. ROSS-E will be more static, staying by the guard shack outside Tunnel 2, while Indy 5P0 moves about the grounds. IMS already has 24/7 security, but Bates doesn’t see why it’d hurt to complement that.

“I want people, as they’re coming in to our facility to see that, and say, ‘Oh gosh, these guys take security serious,’” Bates said.